Impact induced lighting to mitigate post-accident risk

ABSTRACT

The present disclosure relates generally to safety lighting devices for automotive vehicles. A safety lighting system coupled to an automotive vehicle includes a power source that is independent of an electrical system of the vehicle. The system also includes a lighting feature electrically coupled to the power source, wherein the lighting feature is configured to activate in response to an impact event.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure relates generally to safety lighting devices forautomotive vehicles.

Standard automotive lighting features, such as headlamps, turn signals,and hazard lighting, are commonly positioned along the front and rearcorners of the exterior of an automotive vehicle, which are particularlyvulnerable to collision damage. Further, these standard lightingfeatures are dependent on the primary electrical system of the vehiclefor power. In the event of an automotive accident, it is not uncommonfor the standard lighting features of a vehicle to be damaged orelectrical system of the vehicle to partially or completely fail. As aresult, one or more disabled vehicles may be located in or around anactive roadway and not have these standard lighting features availableto signal their presence to passing motorists, nearby pedestrians, oremergency response crews. Consequently, a single automotive accident inor around an active roadway commonly triggers additional accidents,resulting in further damage and injury.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

Certain embodiments commensurate in scope with the originally claimedsubject matter are summarized below. These embodiments are not intendedto limit the scope of the claimed invention, but rather theseembodiments are intended only to provide a brief summary of possibleforms of the invention. Indeed, the present disclosure may encompass avariety of forms that may be similar to or different from theembodiments set forth below.

In an embodiment, a safety lighting system coupled to an automotivevehicle includes a power source that is independent of an electricalsystem of the vehicle. The system also includes a lighting featureelectrically coupled to the power source, wherein the lighting featureis configured to activate in response to an impact event.

In another embodiment, a method of operating a safety lighting systemcoupled to an automotive vehicle includes activating a lighting featureof the safety lighting system in response an impact event. The safetylighting system comprises a power source that is electrically coupled tothe lighting feature and that is independent of an electrical system ofthe automotive vehicle.

DRAWINGS

These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the presentdisclosure will become better understood when the following detaileddescription is read with reference to the accompanying drawings in whichlike characters represent like parts throughout the drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a safety lighting system, in accordancewith embodiments of the present technique;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a safety lighting system installed inan automotive vehicle, in accordance with embodiments of the presenttechnique;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a safety lighting device, in accordancewith embodiments of the present technique; and

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a safety lighting device that includes adisplay capable of presenting information regarding an impact event.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

One or more specific embodiments of the present disclosure will bedescribed below. In an effort to provide a concise description of theseembodiments, all features of an actual implementation may not bedescribed in the specification. It should be appreciated that in thedevelopment of any such actual implementation, as in any engineering ordesign project, numerous implementation-specific decisions must be madeto achieve the developers' specific goals, such as compliance withsystem-related and business-related constraints, which may vary from oneimplementation to another. Moreover, it should be appreciated that sucha development effort might be complex and time consuming, but wouldnevertheless be a routine undertaking of design, fabrication, andmanufacture for those of ordinary skill having the benefit of thisdisclosure.

Present embodiments are directed toward systems and methods forproviding safety lighting for automotive vehicles that automaticallyactivates in response to an impact event. An “automotive vehicle,” asused herein, refers to any suitable machine or system used fortransporting passengers and/or cargo, including but not limited to:cars, pickup trucks, motorcycles, tractor trailers, recreationalvehicles (RVs), all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), water vehicles (e.g., jetskis, boats, yachts), trains, helicopters, planes, and so forth. An“impact event,” as used herein, refers to a rapid accelerationexperienced by at least a portion of an automotive vehicle, such as dueto a collision or road hazard (e.g., pot holes, curbs, roadway debris),that triggers activation of the disclosed safety lighting system. A“rapid acceleration,” as used herein, refers to an acceleration of thevehicle, positive or negative (e.g., deceleration), that is greater thana predetermined threshold (e.g., greater than 3 g, greater than 5 g,greater than 10 g on the g-force scale) and that occurs in a briefperiod of time (e.g., on the order of microseconds or milliseconds). A“lighting feature,” as used herein, refers to a light-producing elementthat is coupled to an interior or exterior portion of an automotivevehicle, which may provide, for example, illumination for passengers,warnings to other motorists, information to first responders. A “firstresponder” or “emergency responder,” as used herein, generally refers topersons that typically respond to provide support in response to anemergency event, including law enforcement, paramedics, fire fighters,emergency medical technicians (EMTs), hazardous materials (HazMat)crews, or members of the national guard, and may also, in certaincircumstances, include civilians that volunteer emergency assistance(e.g., “good Samaritans”). Lighting features may include one or morelight emitting elements (e.g., light emitting diodes (LEDs), lightbulbs, electroluminescent paint) arranged either individually or incombination (e.g., in an array that forms a display) to produce avisually detectable output.

An example of a safety lighting system 10 is schematically illustratedin FIGS. 1 and 2, in accordance with present embodiments. As discussedbelow, in other embodiments, the safety lighting system 10 may involve asimplified design that includes fewer components (e.g., a stand-alonesafety lighting device). The safety lighting system 10 illustrated inFIGS. 1 and 2 includes one or more lighting features 12 that are coupledto one or more portions of the interior or exterior of an automotivevehicle 8 and that activate in response to an impact event. The safetylighting system 10 also includes one or more power sources 14 that areoperably coupled to provide power to the one or more lighting features12. The safety lighting system 10 is described herein as beingindependent of a primary electrical power system 6 and a primaryelectrical power source 4 (e.g., an automotive battery) of theautomotive vehicle 8, which provides electrical power to components(e.g. headlamps 13) of the vehicle 8. The term “independent” is intendedto convey that these one or more power sources 14 are distinct from theprimary electrical power source 4 of the automotive vehicle are capableof functioning in the event that the primary electrical power system 6of the vehicle fails (e.g., as a result of collision damage). However,it may be appreciated that, in certain embodiments, the power sources 14may include sources (e.g., one or more battery cells or capacitors) thatare electrically coupled and charged by the primary electrical powersource 4 of the automotive vehicle 8 and that are able to functionindependent of the primary electrical power source 4 to power the one ormore lighting features 12 in response to an impact event.

In certain embodiments, the safety lighting system 10 may not be coupledto or charged by the electrical system of the automotive vehicle 8. Assuch, in certain embodiments, the safety lighting system 10 may includeone or more power producing or harvesting devices 15 that are operablycoupled to provide power to charge the one or more power sources 14 toensure that the power sources 14 are able to power one or more lightingfeatures 12 of the safety lighting system 10 in response to an impactevent. For example, in certain embodiments, as illustrated in FIG. 2,the safety lighting system 10 may include a power harvesting device 15in the form of a photovoltaic panel (e.g., solar panel) that convertsimpinging light into electrical current. In certain embodiments, thesafety lighting system 10 may include an energy harvesting device 15 inthe form of a kinetic energy harvesting device that converts energyassociated with the motion of the vehicle into electrical current. Incertain embodiments, the safety lighting system 10 may include anradio-frequency (RF) energy harvesting device 15 that receives andconverts surrounding RF electromagnetic radiation into electricalcurrent, including, for example, broadcast radio signals, cellularsignals, WIFI® signals (e.g., Institute of Electrical and ElectronicsEngineers (IEEE) 802.11 signals), BLUETOOTH® signals (e.g., IEEE 802.15signals), and environmental noise. Such power harvesting devices 15 thatmay be used to compensate for electrical losses of the power sources 14as a result of operation of the safety lighting system 10 and/orself-discharge of the power sources 14. In certain embodiments, inaddition to the one or more lighting features 12, the one or more powersources 14 provide power to operate other components (e.g., control andprocessing circuitry) of the safety lighting system 10 discussed ingreater detail below.

As illustrated, in certain embodiments, the safety lighting system 10may include multiple lighting features 12 coupled to a single powersource 14, which may reduce the cost of the safety lighting system 10.In other embodiments, some or all of the lighting features 12 may beoperably coupled to a distinct, respective power source 14, which mayenhance the robustness of the safety lighting system 10 to failures ofindividual power sources 14 (e.g., due to collision damage, age).Further, in certain embodiments, the use of distinct power sources 14for different lighting features 12 enables the assembly and installationof a safety lighting system 10 that includes or consists of a number ofindependent (e.g., stand-alone), safety lighting devices, such as thesafety lighting devices 16 illustrated in FIG. 2. As illustrated in FIG.2, in certain embodiments, these safety lighting devices 16 may bedisposed at any useful location on the surface of the exterior orinterior of the automotive vehicle, including on surfaces that move(e.g., slide, rotate, pivot) relative to other portions of theautomotive vehicle 8 (e.g., wheels, tires, windows, sunroof, mirrors)which might be difficult or impossible to wire to a centralized powersource 14. Moreover, as discussed in greater detail below, the safetylighting devices 16 may, in certain embodiments, be capable of beingactivated independently of the other safety lighting devices 16 of thesystem 10, to indicate that a particular portion of the automotivevehicle 8 (e.g., a wheel, a fender, a bumper) has experienced anisolated impact event (e.g., a pothole impact, a curb impact, anautomotive impact) that may have caused isolated damage to theparticular portion of the automotive vehicle 8.

In particular, the embodiment of the safety lighting system 10illustrated in FIG. 2 includes safety lighting devices 16 that areembedded (e.g., encased, implanted) within one or more at leastpartially transparent surfaces (e.g., side windows 17) of the automotivevehicle 8. In other embodiments, these safety lighting devices 16 may beembedded in any suitable glass (e.g., in the windshield, rear glass,mirrors) or polymer (e.g., headlight covers, taillight covers, hazardlight covers) components of the automotive vehicle 8. The illustratedembedded safety lighting devices 16 include one or more lightingfeatures 12 (e.g., an LED) and one or more power sources 14 (e.g., animpact activated battery, as discussed below) embedded within theautomotive component, while the devices 16 may be electrically coupledto a central power source 14 of the safety lighting system 10 in otherembodiments. By specific example, in certain embodiments, embeddedsafety lighting devices 16 may include at least partially transparentLED display (e.g., Polytron® transparent displays, available fromhttp://polytronglass.com) that can be used by the safety lighting system10 to display warning symbols and messages and information related to animpact event, as discussed below for other embodiments.

Furthermore, the illustrated embodiment of the safety lighting system 10includes suitable processing circuitry (e.g., processor 18) operablycoupled to suitable memory circuitry (e.g., memory 20) and suitablysensing circuitry (e.g., sensors 22) that cooperate to determine that aleast a portion of the automotive vehicle 8 has experienced an impactevent and, in response, to activate some or all of the lighting features12 of the safety lighting system 10. Additionally, in certainembodiments, the processor 18 may monitor a state of charge of the oneor more power sources 14 and may selectively initiate and terminatecharging of particular power sources 14 using electrical power from theelectrical system 6 of the vehicle 8 or from one or more powerharvesting devices 15 of the safety lighting system 10 to ensure thatthe power sources 14 maintain a predetermined state of charge.Furthermore, as discussed in greater detail below, the illustratedembodiment of the safety lighting system 10 includes wirelesscommunication circuitry 24 that is operably coupled to the processor 18and that is capable of receiving and/or sending wireless communicationsignals (e.g., WIFI® (IEEE 802.11) signals, BLUETOOTH® (IEEE 802.15)signals, cellular signals, global positioning system (GPS) signals) toenable the processor 18 to receive and/or send messages to otherelectronic devices, such as cellular phones 23, wearable devices 25(e.g., smart watches, smart glasses), or any other suitable portableelectronic devices, in and around the automotive vehicle 8.

Packaging and Mounting

The disclosed safety lighting system 10 may be implemented and coupledto the automotive vehicle in a number of ways. For example, asillustrated in FIG. 1, in certain embodiments, the safety lightingsystem 10 may be arranged such that the illustrated components arecontained within a common packaging 26. For example, in certainembodiments, the safety lighting system 10 may be implemented with theillustrated components being disposed in or on the packaging 26 (e.g., apolymeric housing), and the packaging 26 may be positioned in theinterior of the vehicle 8 to provide the disclosed functionality. Inother embodiments, as illustrated in FIG. 2, only certain portions ofthe safety lighting system 10 (e.g., a power source 14, processor 18,memory 20, sensors 22, and/or wireless communication circuitry 24) maybe disposed within the packaging 26, while other portions of the safetylighting system 10 (e.g., lighting features 12, power harvesting device15, and/or stand-alone safety lighting devices 16) instead may besuitably disposed in (e.g., coupled to) various locations about theautomotive vehicle 8 and operably coupled to the components within thepackaging 26 to provide the disclosed functionality.

In certain embodiments, certain components of the safety lighting system10, such as one or more lighting features 12 and/or one or morestand-alone safety lighting device 16, may include at least one mountingfeature to facilitate installation of the safety lighting system 10. A“mounting feature,” as used herein, refers to a feature that couples thelighting features 12 and/or stand-alone safety lighting devices 16 tothe interior and/or exterior of the automotive vehicle, such as anadhesive layer or openings for receiving an attachment feature (e.g., ascrew, a bolt, a rivet, a pin, or a tab). For example, as illustrated inFIG. 3, in certain simplified embodiments, the safety lighting system 10may include or consists of one or more safety lighting devices 16, eachsafety lighting device 16 including or consisting of an individualpackaging 27. Further, in certain such embodiments, the individualpackaging 27 of the safety lighting devices 16 may include an at leastpartially transparent polymeric layer 28 that is disposed over thelighting feature 12 and the power source 14 to protect these componentsfrom the external environment (e.g., precipitation, dust, insects).Additionally, the individual packaging 27 of the safety lighting device16 illustrated in FIG. 3 includes an adhesive layer 29 (e.g., an epoxyor siloxane based adhesive) that is used to attach (e.g., affix, couple,adhere) the illustrated safety lighting device 16 to any suitableportion of the interior or exterior of the automotive vehicle 8. Incertain embodiments, the individual packaging 27 of the safety lightingdevice 16 may include other layers, such as a reflective layer (e.g., ametallic foil layer) disposed below and around the lighting feature 12or safety lighting device 16 to enhance the reflection (e.g.,scattering, disbursement, distribution) of light emitted by the lightingfeature 12 of the safety lighting device 16.

In certain embodiments, the mounting features of the lighting features12 and/or the safety lighting devices 16 of the safety lighting system10 may include one or more openings (e.g., receptacles, slots) forreceiving an attachment feature (e.g., a screw, a bolt, a rivet, a pin,or a tab). For example, in certain embodiments, the lighting features 12and/or the safety lighting devices 16 may include a rigid packaging thatincludes an opening that enables the component to be screwed or boltedto the exterior or the interior of the vehicle 8. For embodiments inwhich the mounting feature is an adhesive layer, the lighting features12 and/or the safety lighting devices 16 of the safety lighting system10 may not reused upon being removed from the vehicle 8 (e.g., forrepair or inspection). Rather, for such embodiments, the lightingfeature 12 and/or the safety lighting device 16 may be removed andreplaced with a new lighting feature 12. It may be appreciated that thisis attachment method is apt for embodiments in which safety lightingdevices 16 are irreversibly activated in response to the impact event,and therefore, should be removed and replaced after the impact event.

For example, in certain embodiments, the safety lighting system 10 mayinclude or consist of one or more safety lighting devices 16 that appearas rigid, plastic reflectors that are mounted (e.g., screwed, bolted,adhered) to an exterior surface of the automotive vehicle 8. For suchembodiments, at least a portion of the rigid, plastic packaging of theone or more safety lighting devices 16 is transparent, and a reflectivelayer may be included below the one or more lighting features 12. Forsuch embodiments, when not activated, the safety lighting devices 16 mayimprove the visibility of the vehicle 8 as simple reflectors, similar tothe passive yellow and red reflectors typically used as safety featuresfor bicycles. However, upon being activated in response to an impactevent, such safety lighting devices 16 can, in addition to reflectinglight from other sources, emit light from the lighting features 12 tofurther enhance the visibility of the vehicle 8, and reduce thelikelihood of subsequent accidents.

In certain embodiments, as illustrated in FIG. 2, the lighting features12 of the safety lighting system 10 may include electroluminescent paint50. In general, electroluminescent paint 50 includes one or more layers(e.g., thin films) of material that emit light in response to an appliedelectrical current or electrical field, and may include additionalreflective or protective layers. Electroluminescent paint 50 may includeorganic and/or inorganic electroluminescent materials, and may have avariable intensity output based on the applied electrical current orfield. For such embodiments, the electroluminescent paint 50 may bedeposited (e.g., rolled, air-brushed) in a layer-by-layer fashion ontothe exterior surface of the vehicle 8. In certain embodiments, theelectroluminescent paint 50 may be disposed below a protective top coatdisposed over an exterior surface of the vehicle 8.

Activation

The one or more power sources 14 of the safety lighting system 10 aregenerally designed to activate or to be activated to generate power tooperate the lighting features 12 in response to an impact event. Forexample, FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration an embodiment of astand-alone safety lighting device 16 of a safety lighting system 10.For the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 3, the safety lighting device 16consists of a single lighting feature (e.g., a LED) electrically coupledto a power source 14. Further, the power source 14 of the safetylighting device 16 illustrated in FIG. 3 includes a battery cell 30 inwhich an electrolyte 32 is separated (e.g., isolated, sequestered) fromthe cathode 34 and the anode 36 of the cell 30 by a barrier or membrane38. This barrier 38 is designed to be physically altered by (e.g.,rupture in response to) the rapid acceleration associated with theimpact event to allow the electrolyte 32 to interact with the cathode 34and anode 36 of the cell 30, which activates the power source 14 toproduce power, thereby activating the lighting feature 12. In otherembodiments, a similar membrane may instead separate a portion of thebattery cell 30 from the surrounding atmosphere, and when the membraneis ruptured during an impact event, moisture and/or air (e.g., oxygen)from the atmosphere may reach this portion of the battery cell 30 andactivate the power source 14. As such, in certain embodiments, theactivation of the one or more power sources 14 alone may trigger theactivation of the one or more lighting features 12, enabling themanufacture of the simplified embodiment of the safety lighting device16 illustrated in FIG. 3, which includes a limited number of componentsto reduce manufacturing cost and complexity. In other embodiments, thesafety lighting device 16 may, additionally or alternatively, include animpact-activated switch 40 that begins in an open position, asillustrated, and that closes in response to the impact event toelectrically couple the power source 14 to the lighting feature 12,thereby activating the lighting feature 12.

As mentioned above with respect to FIGS. 1 and 2, in certainembodiments, the safety lighting system 10 may include a processor 18,memory 20, and sensors 22 that cooperate to determine whether theautomotive vehicle 8 has experienced an impact event and, in response,to activate the safety lighting system 10. For example, in certainembodiments, the processor 18 of the safety lighting system 10 mayexecute instructions stored in the memory 20 to receive sensing datafrom one or more sensors 22 (e.g., accelerometers, force sensors)operably coupled to the processor 18, and may detect an impact eventbased on the received data. For example, in certain embodiments, theprocessor 18 may determine that an impact event has occurred based onthe detection of a rapid acceleration event in the sensing data, inwhich an acceleration or a force measurement exceeds a predeterminedthreshold value (e.g., greater than 3 g, greater than 5 g, greater than10 g) within a predetermined time window (e.g., microseconds ormilliseconds). In response, the processor 18 may activate all lightingfeatures 12 of the safety lighting system 10, or selectively activateparticular lighting features 12 in response to detecting a localizedimpact event based on sensing data received from sensors disposed inmultiple locations about the automotive vehicle 8, in certainembodiments.

For example, in certain embodiments, the processor 18 may selectivelyactivate a particular lighting feature 12 disposed on an exteriorsurface of the automotive vehicle 12 (e.g., a bumper, a fender, a wheel)to indicate to the driver, to other motorists, and to first respondersthat this particular portion of the vehicle 8 has experienced asufficiently rapid acceleration to be classified as an impact event.Similarly, for embodiments in which safety lighting devices 16 includeimpact-activated power sources 14, as illustrated in FIG. 3, the safetylighting devices 16 may individually (e.g., independently, separately)activate when their respective impact-activated power sources 14experience sufficiently rapid acceleration during an impact event to beactivated (e.g., via the rupturing of a barrier, via the closing of aswitch) and power the lighting feature 12. As such, in certainembodiments, upon activation, the one or more lighting features 12 ofthe safety lighting system 10 may provide indications of particularregions (e.g., driver-side, passenger-side, front, rear, etc.) orparticular components (e.g., bumper, fenders, wheels, shocks, springs,etc.) that should be emphasized as being potentially in a state ordamage or disrepair. For example, in certain embodiments, the safetylighting device 16 of the safety lighting system 10 illustrated in FIG.2, which is disposed on a wheel of the automotive vehicle 8 may activateindividually (e.g., independently, separately) from other lightingfeatures 12 of the safety lighting system 10 after the wheel experiencesa localized impact event as a result of a road hazard (e.g., a pothole,road debris). Further, in certain embodiments, upon activation, thesafety lighting device 16 of the safety lighting system 10 may remainactivated until the wheel and surrounding components have been inspectedfor potential damage and the safety lighting device 16 replaced.

Accordingly, it may be appreciated that the safety lighting system 10may, in certain embodiments, provide indications to remind the driver orowner that the vehicle 8 should be inspected to ascertain any damagefrom the impact event. In certain embodiments, the safety lightingsystem 10 can be used to inform nearby motorists regarding components ofthe vehicle 8 that are potentially in a state of disrepair and that posea potential risk. In certain embodiments, the safety lighting system 10can inform law enforcement officers that the vehicle 8, or a particularportion thereof, is potentially in a state of disrepair that renders thevehicle 8 unlawful to operate on a public roadway. Additionally,selective activation of particular lighting features 12 of the safetylighting system 10 may, in certain embodiments, be used to guide firstresponders to portions of the vehicle 8 that may be more damaged (e.g.,a point of impact), or to portions of the vehicle 8 that includepassengers, to enable informed decisions with respect to an emergencyresponse. In certain embodiments, selective activation of particularlighting features 12 of the safety lighting system 10 may, for example,enhance the ability of the occupants to see within the vehicle 8, toadvise the occupants of the location of particular emergency or safetyfeatures of the vehicle (e.g., emergency release levers, seal-beltremoval tools, window breaking tools), and/or to provide indications topassengers regarding which areas of the vehicle 8 may have been moreheavily damaged during an impact event and may be more difficult tomaneuver to escape the interior of the vehicle 8 after a collision.

Visual Signals

As discussed above, in certain embodiments, the safety lighting system10 activates in response to an impact event to convey informationregarding the impact event. In certain embodiments, the safety lightingsystem 10 may be activated in particular manners to provide informationregarding the impact event to the driver, to other nearby motorists,and/or to emergency responders. For example, in certain embodiments, theone or more lighting features 12 of the safety lighting system 10 mayinclude lighting features 12 (e.g., LEDs) that are capable of outputtinglight of different (e.g., green, blue, red, orange, yellow)colors/frequencies or intensities. For example, in one embodiment, theprocessor 18 may activate one or more green LEDs in response to animpact event above a lowest threshold (e.g., 3 g), activate one or moreblue LEDs in response to detecting an impact event above a greaterthreshold (e.g., 5 g), and activate one or more red/orange LEDs inresponse to the an impact event above a highest threshold (e.g., 10 g).In other embodiments, similar color coding information could be impartedusing different regions of electroluminescent paint 50 that emit lightof different colors/frequencies in response to an applied electricalcurrent or field. As such, in certain embodiments, the safety lightingsystem 10 may enable the use of color coded light signal to quicklyindicate the severity of an impact event to nearby parties.

In certain embodiments, one or more lighting features 12 of the safetylighting system 10 may be arranged in a manner to output a visualpattern. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 4, in certain embodiments,a suitable number of LEDs lighting features 12 may be arranged into anarray (e.g., LED display 60) that is capable of outputting a visualpattern to nearby motorists and/or emergency responders. In certainembodiments, these visual patterns may include textual information(e.g., warning messages, emergency responder contact information) orhazard indications (e.g., “X” symbols, arrow symbols, emergency symbols,strobing or flashing effects). For the illustrated embodiment, the LEDdisplay 60 is capable of outputting textual information related to theimpact event (e.g., the time of the impact event, the magnitude orseverity of the impact event, the location of the impact event, a numberof occupants in the vehicle at the time of the impact event, a presenceof infant or child passengers in the vehicle at the time of the impactevent, information regarding a registered owner of the vehicle, globalpositioning system (GPS) coordinates of the impact event, or an amountof time passed since the impact event, or a combination thereof), whichmay be useful to emergency responders that respond to the impact event.In certain embodiments, the information presented by the one or morelighting features 12 of the safety lighting system 10 may includeinformation stored locally in the memory 20, information receivedwirelessly from an electronic device of the vehicle (e.g., aprogrammable logic controller) or of a passenger (e.g., cellular phone23, wearable 25). Such textual information may also be useful to lawenforcement officers by enabling the officers to quickly correlateinformation pertaining to an impact event experienced by a vehicle andan unsolved automotive infraction (e.g., a hit-and-run) and/or toquickly determine how long a driver may have been operating a vehicle ina state of disrepair after an impact event.

Wireless Communication

As set forth above, in certain embodiments, the safety lighting system10 may include wireless communication circuitry 24. For suchembodiments, the wireless communication circuitry 24 may be used, forexample, to communicate with stand-alone safety lighting devices 16 thatalso include wireless communication circuitry 24, as illustrated in FIG.1, to instruct the safety lighting devices 16 to activate, deactivate,adjust color, adjust brightness, and so for. For such embodiments, thewireless communication circuitry 24 may also be used, for example, toenable the safety lighting system 10 to communicate with otherelectronic devices (e.g., cellular phone 23, wearable 25) of passengersand others nearby. For example, in certain embodiments, in addition tothe processor 18 activating the lighting features 12 of the safetylighting system 10 in response to detecting an impact event, theprocessor 18 may additionally activate the lighting features 12 of thesafety lighting system 10 in response to a wireless communication signalfrom another electronic device of the vehicle 8 or a passenger thereof(e.g., cellular phone 23, wearable 25). By specific example, in certainembodiments, the safety lighting system 10 may enable a person (e.g., apassenger, a first responder, a law enforcement officer) with a suitableelectronic device in wireless communication with the safety lightingsystem 10 to instruct the processor 18 to activate the lighting features12 despite an impact event not having been detected. For suchembodiments, this feature enables the inspection and testing of thelighting features 12 prior to the occurrence of an impact event, andfurthermore, enables the safety lighting system 10 to be activated toprovide additional information to the public and to first responders inother emergency situations (e.g., abductions, automotive theft, policeevasion) beyond impact events.

Additionally, in certain embodiments, the wireless communicationcircuitry 24 may enable the safety lighting system 10 to emit a wirelesssignal (e.g., an emergency beacon) in response to an impact event. Thatis, in addition to the enhanced visual information enabled by the safetylighting system 10, in certain embodiments, the safety lighting system10 may also provide wireless communication signals to other electronicdevices (e.g., cellular phone 23, wearable 25) to indicate informationregarding the impact event. For example, in certain embodiments, oncethe processor 18 has activated the lighting features 12 in response toan impact event, the processor 18 may further instruct the wirelesscommunication circuitry 24 to emit (e.g., regularly, continually,intermittently) a wireless beacon signal (e.g., a cellular, WIFI® (IEEE802.11), BLUETOOTH® (IEEE 802.15), or other suitable signal) that can bereceived and interpreted by another electronic device (e.g., a cellularphone of a passing motorist, a communication unit of a patrol vehicle ofa law enforcement officer, an in-vehicle security and navigation systemof a passing motorist). In certain embodiments, the informationregarding the impact event conveyed in the wireless beacon may include,for example, the time of the impact event, the magnitude or severity ofthe impact event, the location of the impact event, a number ofoccupants in the vehicle at the time of the impact event, a presence ofinfant or child passengers in the vehicle at the time of the impactevent, information regarding a registered owner of the vehicle, globalpositioning system (GPS) coordinates of the impact event, or an amountof time passed since the impact event, or a combination thereof.

Additionally, in certain embodiments, the wireless communicationcircuitry 24 may also function to reduce power consumption of the safetylighting system 10 after activation in order to extend an amount of timethat the lighting features 12 can be illuminated after the impact event.For example, in certain embodiments, after being activated in responseto an impact event, the processor 18 may use the wireless communicationcircuitry 24 to determine when someone (e.g., a motorist or pedestrian)is approaching the vehicle 8, and only selectively activate the lightingfeatures 12, or adjust the brightness of the one or more lightingfeatures 12, by detecting a wireless communication signal of anelectronic device (e.g., cellular phone 23, wearable 25) of theapproaching person. That is, rather than wasting power illuminating thelighting features 12 of the safety lighting system 10 continuously afterimpact-induced activation, the processor 18 may ration charge in thepower sources 14 by only illuminating, or only increasing thebrightness, of the lighting features 12 in response to detecting anapproaching wireless communication signal (e.g., based on an increasingsignal intensity). It may be appreciated that such embodiment may alsoinclude a RF energy harvesting device 15, such that the power sources 14of the safety lighting system 10 are also charged by the approachingwireless communication signal.

While only certain features of the disclosure have been illustrated anddescribed herein, many modifications and changes will occur to thoseskilled in the art. It is, therefore, to be understood that the appendedclaims are intended to cover all such modifications and changes as fallwithin the true spirit of the invention.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A safety lighting system coupled to anautomotive vehicle, wherein the safety lighting system comprises: apower source that is independent of an electrical system of the vehicle;wireless communication circuitry electrically coupled to the powersource; and a lighting feature disposed in an interior and an exteriorof the automotive vehicle and electrically coupled to the power source,wherein the lighting feature is configured to activate to illuminate theinterior and the exterior of the automotive vehicle to provide emergencylighting to occupants of the automotive vehicle in response to an impactevent, and wherein the wireless communication circuitry is configured toemit a wireless beacon signal in response to the impact event.
 2. Thesafety lighting system of claim 1, wherein the safety lighting systemcomprises a photovoltaic panel coupled to an exterior of the automotivevehicle and electrically coupled to the power source, wherein the solarpanel is configured to convert solar radiation into electrical energyfor storage in the power source.
 3. The safety lighting system of claim1, wherein the safety lighting system comprises a radio-frequency (RF)energy harvesting device that converts RF signals into electrical energyfor storage in the power source.
 4. The safety lighting system of claim1, wherein the power source is not initially activated and is configuredto be activated by a physical change induced by the impact event.
 5. Thesafety lighting system of claim 1, wherein the safety lighting systemcomprises a processor operably coupled to an accelerometer, the powersource, and the lighting feature, and wherein the processor isconfigured to detect the impact event based on acceleration signals fromthe accelerometer and, in response, activate the lighting feature. 6.The safety lighting system of claim 1, wherein the lighting feature iselectrically coupled to the power source via an electrical switch,configured to actuate in response to the impact event to enable power toflow between the power source and the lighting feature.
 7. The safetylighting system of claim 1, wherein the lighting feature compriseselectroluminescent paint disposed on an interior surface of theautomotive vehicle.
 8. The safety lighting system of claim 1, whereinthe lighting feature comprises one or more light emitting diodes (LEDs)arranged in an array to form a display configured to output a visualpattern that is at least partially visible from an exterior of theautomotive vehicle when activated in response to an impact event.
 9. Thesafety lighting system of claim 8, wherein the visual pattern includes:warning messages, hazard symbols, strobing patterns, or emergencyresponder contact information.
 10. The safety lighting system of claim8, wherein the visual pattern includes information relating to theimpact event, comprising: a time of the impact event, a severity of theimpact event, a number of occupants in the vehicle at the time of theimpact event, a presence of infant or child passengers in the vehicle atthe time of the impact event, information regarding a registered ownerof the vehicle, global positioning system (GPS) coordinates of theimpact event, or an amount of time passed since the impact event, or acombination thereof.
 11. The safety lighting system of claim 8, whereinthe one or more LEDs are configured to activate in response to thewireless communication circuitry receiving a wireless communicationsignal, comprising: a signal from the automotive vehicle, a signal froman electronic device of a passenger, a signal from an electronic deviceof an emergency responder, or a combination thereof.
 12. The safetylighting system of claim 1, wherein the safety lighting system comprisesa safety lighting device that includes the power source and the lightingfeature, wherein the safety lighting device is embedded in an at leastpartially transparent glass or polymer component of the automotivevehicle.
 13. The safety lighting system of claim 1, wherein the safetylighting system comprises a safety lighting device that includes thepower source and the lighting feature disposed within a polymerpackaging, wherein the polymer packaging comprises an adhesive layerthat couples the safety lighting device to an interior surface of theautomotive vehicle.
 14. The safety lighting system of claim 1,comprising wireless communication circuitry electrically coupled to thepower source, wherein the wireless communication circuitry is configuredto emit a cellular signal, an Institute of Electrical and ElectronicsEngineers (IEEE) 802.11 signal, or an IEEE 802.15 signal in response tothe impact event.
 15. A method of operating a safety lighting systemdisposed within an interior and on an exterior of an automotive vehicle,comprising: activating a lighting feature of the safety lighting systemin response to an impact event, wherein the safety lighting systemcomprises a power source that is electrically coupled to the lightingfeature and that is independent of an electrical system of theautomotive vehicle, and wherein the lighting feature illuminates theinterior and the exterior of the automotive vehicle to provide emergencylighting to occupants of the automotive vehicle when activated inresponse to the impact event; and emitting a wireless beacon signal fromwireless communication circuitry of the safety lighting system inresponse to the impact event.
 16. The method of claim 15, wherein thesafety lighting system comprises a second lighting feature located on anexterior of the automotive vehicle, and wherein activating comprisesactivating the second lighting feature to provide hazard indications toother automotive vehicles.
 17. The method of claim 15, comprising:sending a wireless communication signal including information regardingthe impact event to another electronic device via wireless communicationcircuitry of the safety lighting system in response to the impact event.18. The method of claim 17, wherein the power source of the safetylighting system comprises a radio-frequency (RF) energy harvestingdevice that converts RF signals into electrical energy, and comprising:harvesting RF energy from wireless communication signals from anotherautomotive vehicle to power the lighting feature and to send thewireless communication signal.
 19. The method of claim 15, wherein thesafety lighting system comprises processing circuitry operably coupledto wireless communication circuitry of the safety lighting system, andwherein activating comprises determining a proximity of an electronicdevice based on wireless communication signals detected by the wirelesscommunication circuitry, and adjusting a brightness of the lightingfeature based on the proximity of the electronic device.
 20. The safetylighting system of claim 1, comprising a second lighting featuredirectly affixed to an exterior surface of the automotive vehicle thatis configured to activate in response to the impact event to illuminatethe exterior surface of the automotive vehicle.
 21. The method of claim15, comprising emitting a cellular signal, an Institute of Electricaland Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 signal, or an IEEE 802.15 signalfrom wireless communication circuitry of the safety lighting system inresponse to the impact event.